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Egyptian Fatayer Recipe
Fatayer are a classic Egyptian favourite; baked pastries lovingly stuffed with spinach, meat or cheese.
Served as an appetizer, mezze or main course accompaniment, these variations can be found across the wider Middle East.
Time to table: 1 hour
Quantity: 10-14 fatayer
Ingredients:
For Dough:
250g Flour
2 x teaspoons of baking powder (be sure not to confuse with ‘baking soda’ or you’ll end up with a strong sour taste in your dough)
Oliver Oil
50g butter
½ cup of water
For filling:
100g fresh baby spinach leaves
Juice of 1/4 lemon,
½ large onion
2 x table spoons pine nuts
Oliver oil/butter
Directions
1) Combine the ingredients for the dough, lightly dust your palms in flour and knead until it had an elastic consistency.
If you find the dough is too wet or sticky add more flour and if too dry, more water.
2) Once your dough is the correct consistency, roll it out with a pin. Your aim here is to produce circles of dough about 2inches in diameter and approximately 5mm in thickness.
The easiest way to do this is to use an upturned cup/glass to cut perfectly circular sections of dough. Leave the pre cut dough to stand. Getting the dough right is the real secret to this recipe.
3) Fry some butter or olive oil and add the onion diced as finely as possible. Add the spinach leaves, pine nuts and lemon and cook for 2-3 minutes.
4) Next place the contents of the pan into a sieve and press with a fork to drain some of the moisture. Fork the remaining mix into the pre-cut dough sections and fold them over into triangular parcel.
5) Transfer the parcels onto a greased tray and bake in a pre heated oven (200C/400F) for 20 minutes
6) Serve hot and on a bed of raw spinach leaves.
Optional
Add a ½ tea spoon of cayenne pepper to the spinach mix if you enjoy food with a little extra kick.
